


Roughing It

by tisfan



Series: Open Ask Prompts [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Tony Is A Genius, camping out, rhodey warned them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9183289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisfan/pseuds/tisfan
Summary: When Tony goes camping, it cannot be considered Roughing It. and that's just the way he likes it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous gave me relationship: stuckony  
> And key words: Christmas, accident, tent

**Roughing It**

Steve vaguely remembered, back when he and Tony had first gotten together, Rhodes taking him aside. At first, Steve was worried that Rhodes was going to give him a shovel-talk, which Steve probably deserved, given that Steve and Tony had what one might call a memorable first meeting. (Memorable in that it was terrible and they had almost ended it in a brawl, and if the Helicarrier hadn’t been sabotaged at that very moment, there’d been a good chance that neither of them would have been in any shape for the Battle of New York.)

“First thing you need to do,” Rhodes had said, “is learn to tell Tony no. If you want to hold onto your sanity, tell him no. Do it early, do it often. He won’t listen to you at least half the time, but the other half should go okay. Most of the time. Tony’s like a kid at **Christmas** , all crazy excitement and big dramatic gestures.”

That had been sort of worrisome, but Steve had remembered Rhodes’s advice, and mostly followed it, and things had been mostly okay. Tony was a truly terrible boyfriend only about thirty percent of the time, and from what Steve had heard from Pepper, that was a radical improvement. And Steve knew he was kinda a pain in the ass himself, so… seventy-percent and working on it. 

The problem, he reflected, the problem wasn’t that Bucky had come back from the dead (well, sort of, and that was an entirely separate problem). And the problem wasn’t that Bucky had taken one look at Tony and fallen head over heels in love (after some serious communication issues, two long-drawn drag out relationship negotiations, and one **accidental** tumble off the roof – which turned out to be okay because Tony could fly, so there was that.) The problem was that Steve had forgotten to give Bucky the “tell Tony no” advice. 

Either that, or Bucky matched Tony crazy for crazy. 

When had Steve become the responsible one? 

After the latest debacle (a repulsor powered tea-tray and Natasha was still furious) it seemed like a good idea to get them out of the Tower for a while. “Camping,” Steve declared, holding the back of Tony’s shirt like a handle. “We are going camping.” 

Tony actually stopped moving at that point and turned around to face his boyfriend with a horror-struck expression. “Wha… no, no, that does not sound like a vacation,” Tony said. “I’m not sleeping in a **tent** , I’m not putting my fantastic skin on display as a mobile feast for mosquitoes. They have West Nile, not that you know what that is… I am not eating dinner out of a can that’s been sitting over a campfire. I am –” 

Tony’s voice trailed off as he finished the circle, seeing Bucky’s brilliant grin fading slowly. “Aw,” Bucky complained. “I like camping.” 

Which was how Steve ended up in the woods, with his boyfriends, while Tony set up a new prototype StarkTent. 

Like most of Tony’s inventions, it wasn’t particularly stark, although the lines were clean and elegant. That being said, this damn contraption was more like a miniature Taj Mahal than a tent. And it had taken no effort at all to set it up. (Steve totally wasn’t counting the amount of effort it had taken Tony to design and build the damn thing, because that man designed new jet engines in his sleep, a self-assembling outdoor mobile home was nothing. It was a lark. An afternoon’s worth of designing schematics and a few days worth of fabricating, and Tony had been cackling like a madman almost the entire time. Totally worth it, not that Steve would ever, ever admit it.) 

“This is not roughing it,” Steve declared, standing in the middle of the Taj Ma-tent. There were three distinct “rooms” (and modules to set up additional living spaces, if needed) and a canopied front “porch” as well as an indoor, electric run kitchen, in case of bad weather; a StarkClarity television that projected onto the tent wall like a movie projector, and a bedroom that put most four star hotels to shame. 

Tony’d set up four boxes, none of them weighing more than thirty pounds, and pushed a few buttons on the remote and with a few whirring clicks, the entire thing had assembled itself. The most effort required had been in making up the bed (which was specifically designed to hold one nerdy inventor and two super soldiers with spare room left over for some bedroom gymnastics.) 

“Look at it this way,” Bucky said, clapping a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “We’ll still get to fish an’ go hikin’ an’ cook on a fire. Without all the annoyance of watchin’ your dumb ass try to set up a tent. I remember you settin’ up a tent, th’ first time, back durin’ the war. An’ that bed’s real comfortable. Beats the hell out of a sleepin’ bag on the ground. Surprised _you_ wanted to go campin’, actually.” 

Steve… remembered that, too. His tent had blown away in the first stiff wind and he’d ended up huddling up with Bucky, who’d cussed him out for having cold toes, and had proceeded to mock him for the next two weeks. 

“Okay, okay,” Steve said. “I know when I’m beat.” 

“Come on, you two,” Tony said, gesturing. He had a tote bag under one arm and his sunglasses perched in his ridiculous hair. “I know a great place to swim, up this way.” 

“Why do I get the feeling this was all a long con?” Steve mused. 

“Because our boy can play you like a guitar,” Bucky said. He grinned. “Betcha Tony didn’t pack a swim suit…” 

“Skinny dipping?” Steve said and suddenly he could visualize it. He felt his lips curl up in a smirk. “Race you.” 

“First one in gets dibs on the center-spot tonight,” Bucky retorted, and then they were off. 

Tony watched them go by, laughing until they couldn’t hear him anymore. The path was smooth, easy to follow, and Steve and Bucky were both in the peak of their physical condition. 

And it should not have been a surprise when they got to the pool (complete with scenic waterfall and thick trees to provide some privacy) and Tony was sitting, stretched out on a towel in his all-together. Next to him, the tote drooped over to reveal his boots and gauntlets. 

“Genius,” he said, pointing to himself. “Overly competitive idiots –” pointing at his boyfriends. “So. What did I win?” 


End file.
